70% of the Maltese population eat fruits daily, close to the EU 64% average. When it comes to vegetables, the Maltese are at the lower end of the table with 52%.
Around 1 in 4 people (27%) said they ate fruit at least twice a day, according to a survey of the European Union (EU) population in 2017.
A further 37% of the EU population said they ate fruit once a day and the remaining 36% ate fruit either less frequently or not at all during a typical week.
Compared with fruit consumption, a slightly smaller proportion of 23% of the EU population ate vegetables at least twice a day, and a slightly higher proportion of 40% ate vegetables once a day.
Euronews reports that Italy led all EU Member States in daily intake of fruit with 85% of the population while Portugal came in second at 81%, well above the EU average of 64%. At the bottom of the list, three Member States had population where less than 40% ate fruit on a daily basis: Latvia 35 %, Bulgaria and Lithuania both at 37%
When it comes to vegetables, consumption, Ireland and Belgium had the highest proportion of the population who ate vegetables at least once a day, both at 84%.
In 18 of the 28 EU Member States, between 50% and 80% of the population reported that they ate vegetables daily with the EU average coming in at 64%.
There were five Member States in 2017 where the proportion was below 50%: Hungary 30%, Romania 41%, Latvia 44%, Lithuania and Bulgaria both at 45%.
Via Euronews
